Samsung's heir apparent Lee Jae-yong has been placed under arrest in South Korea, accused of bribery and other charges.
The case is linked to a scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geung-hye.
Samsung is accused of giving donations to non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Ms Park, in exchange for government favours.
Lee and the Samsung Group deny any wrongdoing.
The acting Samsung chief was first questioning by prosecutors in January,
.
But he was
earlier this week.
On Friday, the court said it "acknowledged that it is necessary to arrest [Lee Jae-Yong] in light of a newly added criminal charge and new evidence."
The prosecution will now investigate further have 20 days to file formal charges.
The arrest does not reflect a court opinion on guilt or innocence but only means it considers the potential crime very serious or that it assumes a flight risk.
Prosecutors accused Lee of giving donations worth 41bn won ($36m;£29m) to organisations linked to Park's close friend Choi.
They alleged this was done to win government support for a big restructuring of Samsung that would help a smooth leadership transition in favour of Lee, who is standing in as chairman for his ill father, Lee Kun-hee.
The controversial merger required
- the allegation is that this support was granted in return for the donations.
In a December parliamentary hearing, Samsung admitted giving a total of 20.4bn won to two foundations, but denied seeking favours in return.
Lee also confirmed the firm gave a horse and money to help the equestrian career of Ms Choi's daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, something he said he now regrets.
This centres around President Park's ties to Ms Choi and has brought allegations of cult activities, influence-peddling and leaks of classified information.